Meant as helpful

[LPBBEAR]

criticism.

I was initially put off of this new version of the forum due to the changes to the homepage but upon spending more time trying to explore areas I used to visit occasionally I'm not sure why this new version was released at all?
Its no where near ready for primetime.

For instance take some time to explore the following link and while you're there explore the section on the left called "topics", an area completely missing from this new version.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231015082113/https://democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1004

Now try to find those topics anywhere here in this new version.

For instance one of the areas I enjoyed visiting was the "Computers & Internet" section. While I find hints that sub categories to that topic section are somewhere here I haven't yet actually found them. BTW the sub categories to that section appear to scattered in a couple non descriptive and unrelated forum categories under the navigate button. At least I think they are but again not actually finding them.

Since I know I posted in those areas I thought maybe I could use My Posts to find those topics but it appears my posts only goes back 90 days and has no option to set the range to a greater time frame.

Anyway what used to be easy is now really difficult and time consuming and so far, in my case, non productive. Many of you are saying things like "Well, we'll get used to it." Actually the new version is far from being on par with the old version. Use the link above. As absurd as this is in saying this you can actually use the link above to go to the Web Archive site and navigate around the old version far easier than this new version of DU!

Perhaps the hard working folks trying to make this transition are planning on implementing those missing user friendly features gradually, over time. I certainly hope so but as of now, other than the obvious surface functionality, this site is mostly non functional and non intuitive in comparison to the older version.

This is a critical site for the Democratic Party and Progressives in general. With the 2024 elections coming up its not a great time to be "experimenting". I could see running both versions in parallel while all of the flaws, bugs, and incomplete features were being ironed out but this is not ready.

Man, do I miss the old version of DU..... (Other than posting I guess I can use the Web Archive version....it works)

[stuck in the middle]

1. Look under "Navigate", not "My Stuff" (nt)

[LPBBEAR]

2. I did

Not there

[stuck in the middle]

3. Which forum are you looking for?

Maybe they haven't all been linked into the new directory structure, yet?

[LPBBEAR]

5. Topics

They don't. The old DU3 version had forums listed in a logical fashion under "Topics". It took seconds to find forum topics. The new DU4 version has forums listed under various unrelated general titles (Alliance, Support, Region etc. ) I've found one isted but none of the others even though I found hints the others might exist. Don't ask me how I found the hints or where. It took a lot of digging around to find the hints and I never actually found the forum sections themselves.

See link from old version for comparison.

https://web.archive.org/web/20231015082113/https://democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1004

[stuck in the middle]

7. I believe that those are the new topics.

The old DU3 version had forums listed in a logical fashion under "Topics". It took seconds to find forum topics. The new DU4 version has forums listed under various unrelated general titles (Alliance, Support, Region etc. )

[LPBBEAR]

8. Did you

bother to go the the Web Archive link and compare? I know you're trying to be helpful here. The point is the entire section of "Topics" is MIA and what has been used as a replacement has no where near the functionality of the old version.
The new method is completely non intuitive and isn't even showing several areas even though I think (maybe, possibly, who knows) they might be in the database.....somewhere.
For instance, the only one I have actually found so far, "Open Source and Free Software", is in the completely unrelated new Topic area of "Culture" Huh????
Additionally the main Topic areas do not default to Alphabetical listing like any normal human would expect, they default to "Latest Discussion". I could see the sub categories defaulting to Latest Discussion, ' logical. But not the entire Topic area. That's backasswards.

[patricia92243]

4. Try the Skinner version of the DU website.

[LPBBEAR]

6. I'm already

running the Skinner version. It helps but doesn't address missing functionality.

[Donkees]

9. ''Open Source and Free Software'' is listed under 'Culture' button

''Computer Help and Support'' is listed under the 'Help and Search' button

[LPBBEAR]

10. Thanks

I guess finding it there sort of makes sense in a convoluted way. The old way of organizing it under "Computers & Internet" was a whole lot more intuitive. When I think of a website area called "Help and Search" I tend to think its referring to Help and Search for the website itself, not a topic forum or category. Poorly thought out on the Devs part.

I'm guessing they will correct this organizational issue sometime so I'll subscribe to it now before it gets sent somewhere else.

[Donkees]

11. The navigation is the worst part of the upgrade

[LPBBEAR]

12. I'm not

a programmer/coder. I don't claim to be an expert in programming but I've been a Computer Tech support person for over 30 years. In my past I was a Beta Tester for a couple different softwares. This new version would have been flagged as a "beta" version and wouldn't have been released publicly. When you have features completely missing from an older version to a new version the new version is not ready for release and remains in beta testing until that functionality is complete and on par with the older version.
The basic idea that should be followed in this area is that even though its hard and time consuming for the developers to finalize those missing features they are saving thousands of users the hassle, lost time, and aggravation of having to "navigate" around that missing incomplete functionality.
My experience this morning serves as an example of this. What used to take seconds in the old version of DU took a couple hours this morning of me hunting around trying to find what I was looking for and I still haven't found everything I was looking for.

One dev saving time and effort equals lost time and effort for thousands of end users.

[Donkees]

14. Agree. It feels like sorting through a stranger's junk drawer and I don't have the energy ...

to rewire my 'brain map' at present.

[Delphinus]

13. This link might be helpful:

a reply from Earl G
[link:https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=18387988|

[LPBBEAR]

15. Confirms

what I thought. This version is a beta and not on par with the previous version. It should have remained unreleased until feature complete.
I appreciate the effort but its not feature complete.

[mockmonkey]

16. I see what you mean.

I haven't spent that much time with this new version but it does seem more clunky than the old version. Other than subscribing to the ones that you visit regularly so it posts those on the side I don't see an easy quick fix.

Here is a link of Retired Forums. In case you were searching for any of these. They are "read only".

https://democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1317

[Donkees]

17. It seems more of them could have been retired especially if only one person is posting in a 'group'

[mockmonkey]

18. I think so too

A topic has a hot period and people think that maybe there should be a forum for it and then nothing for two years.